February 11, 1925 - November 03, 2017
Mary Frances Gray Whalen Obituary Mary Frances Gray Whalen, 92, a long-time Spokane resident, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 3, 2017 at Hospice House in Spokane. Mary was born on February 11, 1925 to Joseph and Henriette Gebhart Gray in Great Falls, Montana, and together with her sister, Kiki, lived their childhood 40 miles to the north in the small, close-knit pioneering community of Fort Benton. Mary and Kikis father was a hard-working, small town businessman, who had immigrated to America from Sicily in 1907. Proud of his service to this country during WWI, he expanded a successful barber shop into an ice cream fountain, and then after Prohibition, a popular caf and tavern frequented by farmers and ranchers in the area. After graduating from Montana State College in the mid-1940s, WWII years, Mary was offered a job by the Montana State Extension Service, to work as a home extension agent, serving farming families along the Montana Hi-Line, that stretched the length of the U.S. Canada border from Sidney to Shelby. During the five years that Mary worked as an extension agent, she logged hundreds of miles in hot summers and cold winters serving families in rural communities scattered across the Hi-Line. She was instrumental in the founding of the county library system in Hill County (Havre), and in providing mobile book delivery to rural families. In 1950, Mary was introduced by a mutual friend in Havre to a young medical doctor, John Whalen, who had recently moved to town. Mary and Jack Whalen were married in September, 1950 in Fort Benton, and established their first home in Havre. Two children soon followed-Doug in 1951, and Maggi in 1952. Jack who had served in the Pacific during WWII, was recalled to the Navy during the Korean War to serve as medical officer at Tongue Point Naval Base in Astoria. That and many subsequent offers to join medical practices led Jack and Mary to move in the next 25 years-from Montana, to Nevada, to California (where son John was born in 1955), and back to Montana (where Jason was born in 1963). After Jacks retirement from private practice in Whitefish in 1967, another series of moves ensued, as Jack took on medical officer duties with companies in Oklahoma and Colorado. The family returned to Montana in the early 1970s when Jack joined the VA medical service in Miles City. From Montana, to Oregon, Alaska and finally to Spokane, Jack progressed through promotions in the VA hospital system. Throughout, Mary was the Whalen tribes chief operations officer, navigating the family through 21 house moves over 25 years-alongside interests she pursued in piano, bridge, furniture refinishing and gardening. In addition to managing her familys homes, moves, and the comings and goings of four kids, husband and scores of pets, Mary was active in community-serving among others as an officer in the Montana Medical Auxiliary, den mom for the Cub Scouts and helper on numerous school projects when her children were young. On top of it all, Mary pursued a career path of her own, serving Alaskas native population in home health aid programs, and later, in adult education programming with Spokane Community College. In the 1980s, she received a commendation from the Environmental Protection Agency, for mobilizing efforts to establish the North Spokane Landfill as a superfund site and for securing mitigation measures. Some of the happiest years of her life, revolved around close friendships she formed with neighbors in the Northwest Spokane/Nine Mile Falls area, where Mary and Jack lived between 1975 and 1989. Friend gatherings relocated to Jack and Marys patio on West Rowan in the late 1980s. Mary was preceded in death by her beloved daughter Maggi (in 1988), and husband Jack (in 2014). Survivors include Jason & Gael Whalen (Lakewood) and daughters Olivia, Clare, and Alison; John & Lisa Whalen (Spokane); Doug & Jenny Whalen (Issaquah) and sons and partners Tom & Kelsey Whalen (and Marys great-grandson, Anderson James), and Cam Whalen & Tori Braunston; Katherine Gray (Kate) Larrabee, Maggis daughter; and Kikis children and partners-Susan Craig Moran & Larry Barnblatt, Joe & Hui Lim Craig, and Jon & Karen Craig. A memorial service to celebrate Marys life will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2018, 2 p.m., All Saints Chapel, St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral, 127 E. 12th Ave., Spokane, WA. A hosted buffet reception will follow at 3:30 p.m. Please RSVP attendance to Doug Whalen, 425-591-9041 by November 30. � To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Mary, please visit our Tree Store. Read more Events NOV 3
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